Revitalize With M Café’s Summer Menu

Revitalize With M Café's Summer Menu

If you live in Los Angeles, chances are you’ve heard of M Café de Chaya, the city’s mainstay in macrobiotic dining. M Café serves up whole, made-from-scratch foods that are vegetarian and vegan-friendly without refined sugar and other highly processed ingredients. The casual European-style café boasts an array of garden-fresh juices as well. At the beginning of the month, Chrystal and I were invited to the restaurant to check out the new summer menu. Both of us have been there more than once in the past, but it was high time for another visit for a lunch of seasonal dishes and a cooling beverage.

Chrystal ordered the green “Detox” with kale, spinach, cilantro, celery, ginger, and a splash of lemon. I sipped the seasonal “Watermelon Cooler” made with watermelon, lime, mint, and a hint of chili pepper. Both were refreshing and perfect summer boosters.

Green Beans Gomae with a small serving of their Heirloom Tomato and White Bean Salad

The Bi-Bim Bop, made up of marinated pan-fried tofu, Korean-style vegetables, spicy miso sauce, and a house-made kimchee. Comes with your choice of protein. We picked the cod, which they even put on the side for me!

This tasting could not have come at a better time. I am in the middle of a vegan-eating challenge myself, and it was encouraging to know nearly every menu time would fit my requirements. Upon entering the café, you’re immediately drawn to the large menu painted on the wall behind the counter. Stand in line and press your nose against the glass encasing the à la carte selections. Vegetable and grain salads, sushi with fish or just vegetables, healthy desserts and more span the length of the restaurant, offering many items from which to choose. We were guided through their staple menu items as well as the new seasonal selections. Sprouted Quinoa Tabbouleh, Lotus Root and Sweet Corn Chowder, and Zucchini “Noodles” with Basil-Almond Pesto, are all a part of their deli menu. We chose a variety of samplings from savory to sweet.

The Signature Curried Tempeh deli salad, great in a sandwich or with crackers per above.

No meal is complete without a simple sweet-ending. From cupcakes and apple turnovers to wonder buns, Babycakes NYC Bakery offers many of their treats at M Café, which are always vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, and contain no refined sugar. In addition, the restaurant adds their own housemade dessert options to the mix, tempting your sweet tooth that much more.

And we had dessert: M Cafe’s very own Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

M Cafe’s Fig Tart…just too beautiful to pass up a taste.

Some vegan sweet-endings from Babycakes: a vanilla cupcake top and the Berry Crumb Cake.

You don’t have to be a vegan health-nut or gluten-free eater to enjoy the food at M Café. They do a superb job at presenting vibrant foods that are as much healthy as they are delicious. Stop by for breakfast, lunch, or dinner at either their flagship store in the heart of Los Angeles or the second location in Beverly Hills. You may see a celebrity or two enjoying the macrobiotic fare there, which is nice for those who like to people watch. More importantly, you’ll feel great afterwards! As Chrystal tweeted moments after our huge lunch, “Even after eating 10 items off a macrobiotic menu, you still feel like you can run a marathon 30 minutes later.” That’s the best way to feel after a satisfying meal.

uhm, are those figs in that tart… you know by now you have a huge laundry list of things to make and take me around to taste when I’m there next! this is just too good. Even the sandwich, which I don’t do often, looks appetizing. And, I’m like you. I have to finish all of my meals with something sweet! That tart!